(ed.) Local Direct Democracy in Europe
Direct Democracy in Modern Europe editors: Bruno Kaufmann Wilfried Marxer Zoltán Tibor Pállinger The interdisciplinary series will present studies on direct democracy in theory and empirical research in modern Europe on the local, national, and European level. Subjects will include country reports, legal aspects, special referendums, comparative studies, and analyses of policy impacts and the contribution of direct democracy to the development of democratic systems.
(ed.) Local Direct Democracy in Europe
Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data are available in the Internet at http://dnb.d-nb.de. 1st Edition 2011 All rights reserved VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden GmbH 2011 Editorial Office: Frank Schindler Verena Metzger VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften is a brand of Springer Fachmedien. Springer Fachmedien is part of Springer Science+Business Media. www.vs-verlag.de No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the copyright holder. Registered and/or industrial names, trade names, trade descriptions etc. cited in this publication are part of the law for trade-mark protection and may not be used free in any form or by any means even if this is not specifically marked. Cover design: KünkelLopka Medienentwicklung, Heidelberg Printed on acid-free paper Printed in Germany ISBN 978-3-531-18250-6
Contents 5 Contents Preface 7 Local Direct Democracy in Europe a comparative overview 9 I. Emerging Patterns The uneasy balance between participation and representation: local direct democracy in the Czech Republic 33 Michael L. Smith Local direct democracy in Germany varieties in a federal state 54 The institutionalisation of the referendum in the Italian political system: from the national to regional and local levels 75 PierVincenzo Uleri Direct democracy in local politics in Norway 113 Aimée Lind Adamiak Twenty years of Polish direct democracy at the local level 126 Andrzej K. Piasecki Second-order direct democracy in Switzerland: How sub-national experiences differ from national ballots 138 Michael Buetzer Direct Democracy at the local level: a comparison of eight municipalities from four countries around Lake Constance (Austria, Germany, Liechtenstein, Switzerland) 157 Wilfried Marxer/Zoltán Tibor Pállinger II. Small Beginnings Direct democracy in Britain: citizens empowerment or political cosmetics? 173 Michèle Breuillard
6 Contents Towards a law on local direct democracy in Bulgaria 184 Iva Taralezhkova Denmark fragments of local direct democracy 193 Palle Svensson Local popular votes in Finland procedures and experiences 202 Rolf Büchi Local referendums in France: a disappointing experience 226 Stéphane Guérard Slovakia restricted direct democracy in local politics 237 Erik Láštic Direct democracy in Slovenia poor practice at the local level 245 Bernard Nežmah Sweden: Better late than never. Towards a stronger initiative right in local politics 254 Bruno Kaufmann Democratic participation at the local level in post-communist states: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania 268 Jüri Ruus List of Authors 291
Preface 7 Preface Direct democracy has attracted growing interest over the last two decades, in practice as well as in academic writing, yet mainly with a focus on the national level of government and much less on the regional and local level of politics. Since citizens have the closest relationship to their everyday environment of local politics it should be rewarding to take a closer look at the opportunities of participating in direct democracy at this level of political life. Therefore, we chose the topic Direct Democracy in Local Politics in European Countries for a conference which I organised in April 2007 at the Institute of Political Science, Philipps University Marburg, Germany, in collaboration with the Initiative and Referendum Institute Europe (IRIE) and the Liechtenstein Institute. I am very grateful to the speakers from all parts of Europe for participating in this conference and elaborating their papers into very informative articles for this publication, including updates on recent developments. I also appreciate the patience of all contributors for a rather time-consuming process of editing and publishing this book. This international conference had been made possible by generous financial assistance from Fritz-Thyssen-Stiftung, Cologne, which we gratefully acknowledge. In addition, I want to thank Philipps University Marburg and the Ursula-Kuhlmann-Fonds for valuable support. For organising this meeting we enjoyed the invaluable help of many persons, most notably of Volker Mittendorf, Anna Capretti, Zoe Felder, Philine Sturzenbecher, Benjamin Ewert and Christine Timmermann. I am also very grateful that the original versions of most papers have received English language editing by Paul Carline, Edinburgh, who attended the conference and demonstrated his expertise in the subject of direct democracy. My thanks also go to Frank Schindler,VS Verlag fuer Sozialwissenschaften, Wiesbaden (Germany), for his continuous support of this English language series Direct Democracy in Modern Europe. Hopefully this publication will contribute to disseminate knowledge and cooperation on local direct democracy in Europe and that citizens participating in direct democracy can help to qualify local democracy at large in European countries. Marburg (Germany), October 2010